Tennessee leads nation in scripts

Tennessee has the highest per capita prescription drug use among U.S. states, a report by BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, released Feb. 5, finds. The report, based on data compiled by Novartis, shows Tennesseans fill an average of 17.3 prescriptions per person in 2006, slightly more than neighboring states West Virginia (16) and Kentucky (15.7). Drugs most commonly prescribed in Tennessee include the narcotic hydrocodone (2.8% of total scripts), Pfizer's Lipitor (1.8%) and AstraZeneca's Nexium (1.6%)...